AB 328

INTRODUCED BY Assembly Members DeVore and McCarthy (Coauthors: Assembly Members Cogdill, Keene, Tran, Walters, and Wyland)

FEBRUARY 10, 2005

An act to add Section 5017 to the Public Resources Code, relating to state parks, and declaring the urgency thereof, to take effect immediately.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST

AB 328, as introduced, DeVore. Crystal Cove State Park: El Morro Village Mobilehome Park. Under existing law, the Department of Parks and Recreation within the Resources Agency administers the operation of state parks in the state. This bill would prohibit the Department of Parks and Recreation from converting the El Morro Village Mobilehome Park located in Crystal Cove State Park to a recreational vehicle campground and day-use park provided specified conditions are met. Money generated from a 30-year lease of the mobilehome park and day-use parking fees would be deposited into the General Fund to be expended for the purpose of reducing the deficit for the 2005-06 fiscal year. The bill would prohibit the Department of Parks and Recreation from allocating money appropriated in the Budget Act of 2004 for the conversion of the El Morro Village Mobilehome Park in Crystal Cove State Park. The bill would declare that, due to the special circumstances applicable only to the El Morro Village Mobilehome Park in Crystal Cove State Park, a general statute cannot be made applicable within the meaning of Section 16 of Article IV of the California Constitution, and the enactment of a special statute is therefore necessary.

This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute. Vote: 2/3. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no.

THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

SECTION 1. The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:(a) The state budget for California is facing its third straight year of a deficit, with this year's budget deficit expected to be $9.1 billion. The state needs all the additional revenue it can find. (b) Evicting the tenants of the El Morro Village Mobilehome Park - as envisioned by the 22-year-old general plan for Crystal Cove State Park that the Department of Parks and Recreation wishes to immediately implement - would cost the state one million two hundred thousand dollars ($1,200,000) in cash profit annually. (c) The El Morro Village Mobilehome Park conversion will cost the state more than ten million dollars ($10,000,000). The final phase of the department's plan also includes construction of a permanent life guard station at the park at a cost of several million dollars. It is not appropriate for the state to take on this large, financial obligation at a time when it is having difficulty financing its other, more important responsibilities and priorities. (d) The tenants of the El Morro Village Mobilehome Park are willing to enter into a 30-year lease generating fifty million dollars ($50,000,000) immediately for the state. The tenants are also willing to pay for connecting to a sanitary sewer line. (e) If the El Morro Village Mobilehome Park is destroyed, a substantial majority of the displaced residents would be those with low incomes or seniors who, in the current local housing market, would be hard pressed to find adequate housing in an area that has been home to many of them for generations. Low income and senior housing is an urgent priority for this state. (g) The El Morro Village Mobilehome Park is likely the oldest such establishment in Orange County, has been a stabilizing factor in the lives of many families over several generations, and is a candidate for the National Register of Historic Places. (h) If the state implements the 22-year-old conversion plan, it will realize substantially reduced revenues and profits from the recreational vehicle campground and day-use parking it envisions for Crystal Cove State Park, while incurring significant capital construction costs. SEC. 2. Section 5017 is added to the Public Resources Code , to read: 5017. (a) The Department of Parks and Recreation shall not convert the El Morro Village Mobilehome Park located in Crystal Cove State Park to a recreational vehicle campground and day-use park if all of the following conditions are met: (1) The tenants of the El Morro Village Mobilehome Park pay rent to the state in the amount of fifty million dollars ($50,000,000) for a 30-year lease. (2) Day-use parking, up to 50 spaces, are available within the El Morro Village Mobilehome Park for nonresidents of the mobilehome park. (b) The money generated from the lease and day-use parking fees shall be deposited in the General Fund to be expended for the purpose of reducing the deficit for the 2005-06 fiscal year. SEC. 3. Notwithstanding Item 3790-301-0005 of Section 2.00 of the Budget Act of 2004, the Department of Parks and Recreation shall not allocate any of the ten million forty-seven thousand dollars ($10,047,000) appropriated for the conversion of the El Morro Village Mobilehome Park in Crystal Cove State Park (Schedule (1) 90-GI. 101) and the department shall not use those funds for any other purpose.

SEC. 4. The Legislature finds and declares that, because of the unique circumstances applicable only to the El Morro Village Mobilehome Park in Crystal Cove State Park, a statute of general applicability cannot be enacted within the meaning of subdivision (b) of Section 16 of Article IV of the California Constitution. Therefore, this special statute is necessary. SEC. 5. This act is an urgency statute necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, or safety within the meaning of Article IV of the Constitution and shall go into immediate effect. The facts constituting the necessity are:In order to prevent the imminent displacement of residents of the El Morro Village Mobilehome Park in Crystal Cove State Park and the destruction of the mobilehome park, it is necessary that this act take effect immediately.